BEST Virgin EVER

This past Saturday, we ventured up to our northern neighbor (AKA Maryland) to take in one of the eagerly anticipated Best Fall Ever events: the Virgin Festival. Before you start speculating as to what may go on at said Virgin Festival, let me explain the event. It is an all day concert featuring a variety of artists, sponsored by Virgin Mobile. What else could you mean by Virgin Festival???

Anyhow, Kimmmm, Kelli, a few of Kimmmm's college buddies (Justin, Kate & Luke), and I journeyed on up to the Preakness grounds to spend one glorious music-filled day. And a glorious day it was. The performers ranged from the New Pornographers to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. From Clap Your Hands Say Yeah to the Killers. From the Flaming Lips to Thievery Corporation. And of course, the biggest legendary draw: THE WHO

Based on the various artists that performed at a single venue, you can imagine the heterogeneous audience that attended such an event. Among the massive crowd of drunks, at any given time, I could observe aged hippies that probably attended the original Woodstock, a variety of costumes including the Swiss Miss girls and half-naked girls on stilts, college students from any area school in a 100-mile radius, and DC yuppies (such as ourselves).

My favorite fan was spotted during the CYHSY concert, which generally appeals to a rather mellow audience. Well, this particular fan was the only member of the audience that did not conform to the mellow ambiance. In fact, he danced his heart out, reminding me a lot of what a Richard Simmons aerobics class would instruct you to do ("Bounce, 2, 3, 4. Now shake 2, 3, 4. Now raise your hands and hold. Now, jump, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8."). As you check out the photo I snapped of my favorite fan, you will notice that not a single other person in the audience has arms flailing overhead like this man:

By any chance, does a specific Sesame Street song come to mind ("One of these things is not like the others...")???

Perhaps one of the most fascinating observations (that eventually turned into a game for us) was identifying the variety of concert tees everyone sported. I always thought it was a major fashion faux pas to wear a t-shirt of the actual concert you're attending. But as it turns out, the majority of people wore any concert tee, regardless of who was performing. Sure they wore shirts from previous the Flaming Lips and the Who concerts, but they also wore concert tees from Guns 'n Roses and Garth Brooks.

And then out of nowhere, the unthinkable happened: we spotted a Baha Men tee. Not only did somebody have the audacity to wear a shirt of the annoying group that sang "Who Let the Dogs Out," but that person had actually attended a Baha Men concert in order to purchase it. Great, now that damn song is in my head all over again.

All in all, we had a very memorable and very exhausting day. I still find it hard to believe that we saw the Who...or as Kelli put it: "the band that sings that CSI song."

BEST Plug EVER

Well, well, well. As if the free tickets to Tea Leaf Green weren't enough of a plug, it looks like we're enjoying our 15-minutes all over again.

This is what was posted on DC Blogs last Thursday:


I think it's my turn to say, "I'm with the blogger..."

BEST When it Rains, it Pours EVER

When life hands you lemons, I know you should make lemonade. But lately, I've just wanted to use those lemons to chase a few shots of Patron. After a fun-filled best summer ever and a great start to a best fall ever, the bests came to a screeching halt about a week ago.

Here is a recap of last week:

Saturday, September 16 - A couple months ago, my car bid adieu to its long-running, dependable life. Since I was working in the city throughout the summer, and I could get anywhere I needed by foot or metro, I was in no hurry to purchase a new car. Well, those days are over. Starting Monday, I would begin commuting out to Chantilly for work. This kind of commute necessitates a dependable car. Not a car that died on I-66 two months ago.

Well, I had an idea of what I wanted to buy (something that would not die on I-66 and was not too harmful to the environment), and what I wanted to spend (an amount that would not put an end to my quest to having a Best Fall Ever). And since my parents were in town for the weekend, they got to experience the pleasure of checking out a couple car dealerships with me. As it turns out, cars are a lot more expensive than they were 10 years ago (you know, when I obtained my first and only car to date). After spending a few hours looking and test-driving, I had it narrowed down to a couple different models, but I decided to think about it. Long story short, I walked away without a mode of transportation to get me to work on Monday.

(On the upside, my parents were in town and we went out to an delicious dinner with my aunt and uncle Saturday night).

Monday, September 18 - Here begins my "busy season," or rather, my uphill battle to enjoying the next two months. I returned to my longstanding client out in BFE (and I'm not talking about Best Fall Ever), where I will work crazy hours through November. Since I had not been on this client since November of last year, I forgot the joy of sitting in traffic while my life slowly passes me by. You may be wondering how I was able to enjoy such a spectacular commute since, after all, I no longer have a reliable mode of transportation. Well, the Wisconsinite was gracious enough to pick me up and drive me to work for the week.

(On the upside, he and I decided that we would continue our carpool even after I get a car in an effort to help save Mother Earth.)

Tuesday, September 19 - I decided I would start the day on a positive foot by jogging in the morning. Well, as I opened my bedroom door, a gigantic cockroach scurried past me into my room. I quickly ran to our cleaning supplies to grab a bottle of Raid. We did not own a bottle of Raid. We owned a bottle of Windex. I figured that could do a number on the crunchy bugger. I chased after it, but it rushed into my closet and hid itself beneath the boxes that line the floor of my closet. I put in a request to have our apartment fumigated, but our complex could not guarantee a visit until Wednesday. So that night, Kimmmm came home with a bottle of Raid and 18 little roach traps that are now discreetly placed throughout our apartment.

Despite our attempt at fumigating the apartment before the exterminator visit, I kept my closet door shut with plastic bags stuffed between the door and the carpet and a gigantic storage bin pushed up against the closet door. I know it may seem ridiculous, but I did not want my new little roommate to get cozy with me during the night.

(On the upside, I went jogging.)

Wednesday, September 20 - After a restless night of sleeping in fear that the hidden roach had given birth to hundreds of roach babies, I slowly got up and headed off to work. Regardless of how the day would go, I knew it'd end well because it was the day of our traditional happy hour hump day night.

However, when I arrived home after work and retrieved our mail, I was politely informed that at the end our lease in December, our rent would be increasing 25%. Come again??!! It's not as though we're paying pennies as it is. This is just days after Kimmmm and I decided that we were not going to move again until we were able to purchase homes (like in 2035). For the fourth time in three and a half years, we'll be going through the same old song and dance of finding a place to live in DC.

(On the upside, it gave us all the more reason to go out to Four Courts for happy hour hump day.)

Thursday, September 21 - Happy Hour Hump Day yielded a fabulous Thursday morning with major dehydration, a killer headache, endless nausea on a very long commute, and the constant reminder that we need to move.

(On the upside, the Office premiered!)

Friday, September 22 - Justin (Kimmmm's friend from college) arrived to visit for the weekend. After they had dinner, we all met up at Four Courts for a couple drinks. When I entered Four Courts, the ID checker at the door (I'd call him a bouncer, but he is hardly intimidating) asked to see my ID. This isn't bad, considering I'm almost flattered when people want to ID me now. But as I reached into my purse to present it to him, he said, "Nevermind, I remember you. You were here the other night." To what I replied, "Ummm, I'm not sure if that's a good thing." Okay, as long as we realize we have a problem, we only have eleven more easy steps to go.

(On the upside, I was carded.)

Whew! What a week! If you've made it this far, I thank you for your commitment to our blog... or rather, the slow-moving train wreck I like to call "my life."

Despite the storm cloud that has been over my head for the past week, I think sunny skies are in the future. The bests are already piling up as we eagerly anticipate the Virgin Festival on Saturday and another trip to NYC the following weekend to see CYHSY and the Yankees.

BEST Crime Spree EVER

It is a given that the girl who grew up in the safest town in America would move to just outside a city that has one of the highest murder rates in the country.

But it turns out that these alleged statistics are just that… statistics. They aren't "real". This became painfully evident a few weeks ago, when my mother called to report a crime spree, in her neighbourhood, which happens to be located in the heart of the safest town in America. That's right, East Amherst, NY is under siege…a crime emergency if you will. She reported that the spare key they keep outside the house was missing, the side garage door was open, and that the glove compartment of the car had been rummaged through.

Being the good daughter that I am, I cautioned her to change the locks on the house and not keep a spare key outside the house.

Fast forward to a few nights ago. I get a phone call. Because my phone is microscopic and I can never find it when it rings buried at the bottom of my bag, I didn't actually answer it. The message was my mother saying, "Hi Kim, I'm calling to tell you about the crime…" followed by a good 2-3 minutes of hysterical laughing.

Fearing that this was the iguana story all over again (another post for another time), I nervously called home. It turns out that she was just calling to report that East Amherst was safe once again. A group of teenagers had been arrested in the neighbourhood for rummaging through cars and the like.

Doing what people do in the suburbs, the neighbors on the street starting to call around, asking if anyone else had a brush with the crime emergency. In doing this, my mother learned that one of the neighbors had reported that something was missing from their car….what was missing was actually the cause of the hysteria… it was a box of tic-tacs.

That's right, one of the most annoying forms of breath mints on the face of this planet (the stupid box makes too much noise and they never leave you with a minty fresh feeling) had been STOLEN. Not only STOLEN, but reported as STOLEN.

It's my hope that the hoodlums of the safest town in America never make their way to DC and that we can all continue walk around this city with our tic-tacs, altoids, Listerine strips, or what have you safe in our purses, pockets, cars, etc.

BEST Kristall EVER

So, while at Whole Foods the other day, I decided that I wanted something that was a little bit carbonated to drink. I've discovered a new tasty treat... a soda from Sweden. It's call Kristall and it's yummy.

BEST Rock and Roll Hall of Fame EVER

Before the wedding this weekend, we stopped in at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is located in Cleveland, Ohio. I had never thought of Cleveland as the birthplace of Rock and Roll… I sort of assumed that representatives from every other city in the world does have some sort of a music scene (Austin's Indie Scene, New Orleans jazz scene, San Francisco's jam scene, New York's punk scene, Memphis, Nashville, etc spring to mind) had gathered together and taken a vote to pick a neutral city with anti-Semitic* panhandlers to call the birthplace of rock and roll.

*This is a story for another time. Let's just say the people on the streets of Cleveland get a little testy when you don't give them cash.

However, I was mistaken. As I learned from the historic Ohio plaque from outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland is indeed the birthplace of "Rock and Roll". And by "Rock and Roll" I mean, the words "Rock and Roll", not the music itself. The music was born in Memphis, with Elvis. It turns out that some old timey DJ in Cleveland coined the term "Rock and Roll", hence the state of Ohio has claimed it as their own. The words, not the music.

The Hall itself was pretty sweet, lots of memorabilia, broken guitars, Brittany Spear's outfits (she totally wouldn't fit into them today), Jimi Hendrix's scarves, a recreation of Sun Studios, the Beatles Yellow Submarine, records, ticket stubs, drumsticks, Jerry Garcia's guitars, etc.

Anyway, the museum was pretty interesting - given the immense history that is Rock and Roll the presentation is pretty comprehensive and well done. Definitely a must see if you are in Cleveland.

BEST Way to Overshadow the Newbie EVER

As you may have heard, Meredith Vieira began the Today Show today with co-anchor stud (and the love of Kimmmm & Emmmm), Matt Lauer. While a good portion of the show revolved around Meredith as a way to welcome her, they took one major digression from her by unveiling this (from People Magazine):
Wow! I mean, wow! And to think they have him sitting at the Today Show desk with a suit on!

BEST Depends Customer EVER

Friday night, I found myself out in Dupont Circle with a couple friends, and I was getting ready to relocate up the Red Line to Cleveland Park. I must have been feeling green peacey as I opted to take the metro instead of a cab.

Well, I'm just minding my own business, several sheets to the wind, as I began to take a rather intoxicated and bleary eyed scan over the other passengers of the half-full train. I glanced over to a mighty large fellow that had sprawled out over an entire metro seat. He was alone (not that anyone else could fit on the seat) and he had fallen asleep. But I didn't think much of it because that's what people tend to do in a half-full metro in the later hours.

Then, as I began to look away, that's when I spotted it. He was undeniably soaking wet all around his man parts! He completely wet himself. So I sat there with my jaw dropped open, realizing that everyone else around him had taken notice and shared the same look of disgust. I quickly jumped out of my seat and headed to the metro doors even before the train approached my stop. All the while, I wondered who last peed on my seat.

So to all of you that are enjoying your comfortable metro seats in the morning while I am slammed up against the door and seven complete strangers with my laptop squeezed between my feet, it looks like I win after all. I have no problem, in fact, I encourage you to keep your urine-saturated metro seats!

BEST Last Wedding of the Season EVER

So this past weekend, Phillip and I headed to Cleveland for one of the more highly anticipated Marietta College weddings… that's right folks, after eight years of dating… Matt and Carina have finally tied the knot!

Anyway, the wedding was a lot of fun. The ceremony took place in a lovely little garden and the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the bride was blushing, you get the idea. Then the fun started… the reception was a whirlwind of drinking, dancing, eating, women hitting on Phillip at the bar, more drinking, snickering at a waiter that had a flock of seagulls haircut, drinking, seeing some old folks from Marietta, drinking, having Phillip remark "Nothing says true love like a whorehouse" to one of the groomsmens parents, drinking, and of course… the cake was to die for. It was chocolate with white icing, and I'm not even the biggest fan of chocolate cake. If I develop diabetes in the next few days… that cake is to blame… and I'd do it all over again.

As we were driving back home, Phillip and I started to get a little misty-eyed… this was the last wedding of the season, and the last Marietta College wedding for the time being.

When I got home, as I was hanging up my dancing shoes and putting my dress back in the closet, when my phone rang. Marietta College Alum and avid Best Summer Evah reader Laney was calling with some exciting news… she's engaged!

And so it begins again…

BEST Rematch EVER

In case you've been under a rock for the past week, you may not have been aware that Saturday night college football had the #2 (defending national champs) Texas Longhorns hosting thee #1 Ohio State Buckeyes. And what a game it was.

First of all, the hype of such a game guarantees star power: Lance Armstrong, LeBron James, Eddie George, Jack Nicklaus, Emmitt Smith were all there. And, of course, my own personal fave Matthew McConaughey (too bad he roots for Texas)! Sure, the game itself couldn't possibly live up to the original 2005 meeting in which Texas scraped by with a win, but as the clock expired, it was just the result I wanted to see: OSU 24, Texas 7.

This is a great start to what promises to be a winning season for the Buckeyes. As for continuing as #1, let's just hope they can Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy Hang on...O...H...I...O!

(By the way, if you turn up your volume, you'll hear the Best Damn Band in the Land rocking out to Hang on Sloopy...")

BEST Best Summer Ever EVER

Now that we've successfully transitioned from the Best Summer Ever into the Best Fall Ever, we'd like to pay our respects (with a little bit of self-indulgence) to what has proven to be a spectacular few months. As we look back on the previous posts of the summer, we decided to highlight the good times and not-so-good times in one final goodbye to the summer.

So here it is, The Best of Our Best Summer Ever:

Race for the Cure: I like my daily dose of calcium as much as the next gal, but the idea of gulping down any sort of dairy product after running a 5K in June is not the least bit appetizing. Even as I sit here writing this, hours after the event has ended, my stomach still churns at the idea of yogurt after running.

Rolling Thunder: A lot of people went to Vietnam and fought in the Vietnam War. And then they came home. Some of them bought motorcycles. On Memorial Day, they bring those motorcycles to DC from all over the country and walk around our National Mall with plastic cups full of beer.

Krispy Kreme burger: Slide the patty on top of the half of the doughnut, making sure the cut side is on the outside. Wait! Stop right there! Top with the other half of doughnut, cut side facing up. Can't breathe, can't breathe!

Take Pride in America: So, as I am hauling branches up the Anacostia River bank, I can’t help but thing of the horrible, horrible irony of the fact that while I started this day to reconnect with America, I was ending it by assisting others chop down trees for a park used primarily by heroin addicts.

Sarasota: The routine is not completely set in stone however, Justin informed me that sometimes they mix it up and switch the order of “eat thai food” and “see a movie”. Also, there is a potential add on of “get icecream”.

Crabbing: It turns out that underneath their hard shells, beyond all the mustard (also known as “guts” or “doody”), and underneath the lungs (which look like crab meat but aren’t), crabs are pretty delicious little buggers, especially when covered in butter and Old Bay.

DC Pride Week: Coco.... her milkshake brings all the 18 year old boys to the bar

Bouquet Toss: Yes, the girl who cannot commit to watching Lost has been deemed the next bride.

American Gothic: Instead of the actual painting hanging up, there is a POSTER of the painting with a little paragraph stating that the actual painting had been in DC but it had been returned to Chicago a week earlier!

An Inconvenient Truth: Even if you are not a fan of documentaries or Mother Earth, it is worth watching the used to be the next President of the United States speak with the uncanny resemblance of Eeyore.

Loveless Café: The guy at the hotel desk had told me that Loveless was “overrated”, however we were not to be deterred as it was written up in “1000 Places to See Before You Die” and the brochure contained words of praise from both Al Roker and Willard Scott. I consider Al Roker and Willard Scott to be the most authoritative Today Show Personalities when it comes to all things eating.

Bonnaroo: So, a few weeks ago, Sheila, Ming, Will and I headed down to Manchester, TN for four days of peace, love, happiness, and portajohns.

Gomez: At one point during the show, one of the singers says, “Does anyone have britches* for (other band members name here)?” *Gomez is from England, so they say things like “britches” without being laughed at.

Wegmans: Thousands of questions began running through my mind. Will this live up to the hype? Will I get lost inside? Will Danny Wegman be serving at Danny's Deli? Am I in Buffalo?

South of the Border: The South of the Border Billboards, which featured stereotypical Mexican “Pedro” who could only be more stereotypical if there were flies buzzing around him (he already had a burro), and touted the wonderful things that South of the Border holds for the wayward I-95 passengers.

Galaxy Hut: With a capacity of only 48 and a sign made out of construction paper, Galaxy Hut is the one place in Arlington that you can be assured you will not be groped on a Saturday night.

Java: Experts recommend that to “beat the heat”, you not engage in any activity which involves moving. If you are thinking about moving, it’s recommended that you use plenty of sunscreen and consume at least 32 ounces of water an hour to stay hydrated.

DC Duck tour: We rode around on a giant boat on wheels that sucked down 900 gallons per mile on the first free-bus-ride-so-you-do-not-drive-and-add-to-global-warming day.

Fringe Festival: And, without any formal training, I managed to successfully rip the tickets in half. I know what you're thinking, "Wow, she's a miracle worker."

My Cousin's wedding: I ran with her to the dance floor and proceeded to take part in the boys versus girls dance off to the entire thirteen minutes of Paradise by the Dashboard Lights.

Jacksonville: One of the highlights of my trip (aside from breakfast at the Waffle House) was my visit to Southland Waste Systems, where they have not had an accident in 000 days

May 39th: Despite all of these futuristic things, the essence of the awkward morning after remains.

Spring Alibi: Rather than give away the entire alibi, let's just say it involved "becoming the master of one's domain."

New Mexico: The stores are brimming with southwest tourist crap - hand made pottery, hand made blankets, hand made figurines, hand made jewels, hand made turquoise, hand made pots, hand made pans, hand made baskets all hand made by Indians (and yes it's New Mexico - you are allowed to say "Indian")

Rhode Island: An infant's bedroom, the pediatric wing of a hospital, and the Valentine's section of Hallmark are all appropriate places to have an insane number of stuffed animals. A Bed & Breakfast, however, is not the place.

Pretty Woman: He opened his wallet to produce what I would assume to be a business card. But instead, he pulled out a checkbook.

Verizon: I'm pretty sure that the glint of crazy in my eye dissuaded him from attempting to up-sell me on any of the stupid extras that they offer… after forty minutes of wasted time in the middle of a hectic Monday afternoon, I was ready to rip the cell phone off the belt of any toolbag that so much as mentioned the words "Bluetooth".

Monday morning at O'hare:
My new arch-nemesis: (smirking and nodding) It's Monday morning at O'Hare.
Sooooo?
My new arch-nemesis: Yep, sorry. These things happen on Mondays.
What does? Mechanical problems? Cancelled flights? Oversold situations? What exactly is it about a Monday that makes an airline different than any other day of the week? So, you're telling me that every six days you prepare yourself for a trillion unhappy customers because it's another Monday morning?

Code orange flight: Thursday is also the day that ordinary freedom loving Americans were having their bags emptied out and criminalized for possessing such items as chapstick, contact lens solution, hair products and other assorted liquids and gels.

Segways: It really does live up to its multitude of uses as the "ranger" appears to off-road through the woods despite the fact that an obvious walking path is right next to him. I wonder if a bear can reach 12.5 mph.

College throwback weekend: When drunken idiots dropped their sophisticated drinks at Cubby Bear, the glass shattered, leaving my sandaled feet soaked in beer and shattered glass. In college, the classy plastic cups left my feet sticky, but never gouged and bleeding.

It all came together: Anyway, we didn't end up capturing the Segway using my phone, by the time I had located my phone and opened up the camera, he had left us in his 12.5 mph dust.

Conversations:
Emily: "Guess my name."
Dude: "Kathryn"
Emily: "No"
Dude: "Kimberly"
Emily: "No, but CLOSE!!"

Award winning post: Does this put Em and myself one step closer to quitting our jobs for the man and becoming professional bloggers?? If only there were "Blog for Food", "Blog for Rent" and "Blog for Clothes" contests....

I'm with the Blogger: As Emmmm is introduced to other staff in the office I realize something. My roommate has turned from Emmmm to Emmmm, The Blogger.

I'm from Wisconsin: When he spotted the Miller Genuine Draft vendor, he took in a deep breath of the MGD-saturated ballgame atmosphere and remarked, "Ahhhhh, the smell of my childhood."

BEST Wedding Gift EVER

So this coming weekend, Phillip and I are heading to Cleveland. There are two reasons for this trip.

The first is to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is the only attraction in the great state of Ohio that is listed in the book "1000 Places to See Before You Die". That's right, you can skip the entire state of Ohio, except for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Oddly enough, in the five years that I lived there, I never made it to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The second reason is that we are going to the final wedding of the summer wedding season. Two Marietta College alumni are getting hitched after a very long courtship. It should be a good time... I'm looking forward to some drinking, dancing, and seeing some people I haven't seen in a while.

Anyway, last weekend, in a stroke of absolute genius the crew that was in New York came up with the perfect wedding gift….a chocolate fountain!

Granted, this is one of those completely impractical sort of cheesy wedding gifts that is totally not on the registry, but really, when you come right down to it, nothing says "we're starting our new life together" like a continuously streaming source of chocolate.

BEST Mama Had a Baby & Its Head Popped Off EVER

Now, I find the geese that line the Reflecting Pool just as disgusting as the next person, but not once have I found the need to decapitate the innocent feathered friend. The crazies in Lekeitio, Spain think otherwise.

This is what I read on the metro this morning from one of my favorite literary works, the Express:

Nothing says "summer fun" in Lekeitio, Spain, like "ripping the head off a dead goose." This can clearly be seen by the joy of (these) revelers, who held up a headless goose Tuesday during a fiesta. The deceased geese are strung up on a line, and the partiers rip off their heads. And you were just thinking that your family needed a new Thanksgiving activity.

When I was growing up, we just tore dandelions out of the ground and pulled the flowers off of the stems. Lekeitio brings a whole new meaning to "Mama had a baby and its head popped off."

BEST 8 One-Dollar Bills in NYC EVER

For as long as I can remember, I've considered NYC an expensive city. I'd go so far as to say that it is the benchmark we use to compare the cost-of-living of every other US city -- "DC's expensive, but not NYC expensive..." I'm not even sure the bargain-obsessed Rachel Ray could tackle it with $40 a day.

So to adequately prepare for our weekend getaway to NYC where I intended to drop Benjamins like I have them, I knew it was essential that I stop at the ATM on my way out to the bus station.

On my way to meet Suz at the bus station, I headed to a nearby ATM and inserted my debit card.

Rejected.

No, this can't be. I just used it the other day and I know for a fact that I have money in it as I was paid the day before that. Ignoring the rejection, I re-inserted my debit card to try again.

Rejected.

I inspected my card again. Valid From 08/03, Good Thru 08/06. Today's date? September 2, 2006.

That's just GREAT! Assuming I must have received a new debit card at some point over the past few weeks and I probably disposed of it somewhere in the mountainous pile of unopened mail that continuously grows on our dining room table, I returned home to retrieve my new debit card. With limited time remaining before my scheduled bus departure, I sifted through hundreds of envelopes simply by feeling for a credit-card shaped item through the unopened envelope to avoid opening a single piece of mail. No such luck.

I suppose it is possible that I threw it in a bag after picking up the mail one day. And so the vicious cycle continued. Dumping bag after bag in an effort to locate a valid debit card, my room soon began to resemble the aftermath of Ernesto. I eyed the clock and realized I was cutting it a little too close to making my scheduled bus ride, so I prepared to throw in the towel as soon as I searched one final bag: My laptop bag. And as luck would have it, I discovered an unmarked envelope (absolutely zero reference to a financial institution of any sort) that felt as though a credit card shaped object had been enclosed. I tore open the envelope to find a pristine debit card Valid From 08/06, Good Thru 08/09, so I sped out the door in hopes of making it to the bus on time. On the way down the elevator of my building, I tried calling to activate my credit card, but I lost the signal. That's okay, I figured I would just try when I arrived at Union Station.

When I arrived at Union Station, I ran up to the nearest ATM and quickly called the activation number again.

"Press 1 for English..."

Done.

"Enter your 16-digit debit card number for activation..."

Done.

"Please have your checking account number ready to complete your activation..."

Pardon me?

Since it is currently 2006 and I stopped writing checks moments after I opened a checking account for college in 1998, I obviously do not have my checking account number handy. So much for activating my new debit card. Instead, I searched through my wristlet to count the number of Benjamins I had to spend in NYC. Zero. I counted not one, not two, not three, not four, but five Washingtons. I'm pretty sure the panhandlers on the streets of NYC have more cash than that.

Oh well, I had to meet Suz at the bus station, so I stashed away my useless inactivated debit card with my five singles and rushed off to meet her and tell her my financial woes.

After arriving in NYC and retelling my debit card fiasco to Kimmmm and company, I was reassured that I would have plenty of funds for the Brazilian Street Festival where you can purchase a variety of items for anywhere from $2 to $8. Things were looking up. Even as I searched through my backpack for my camera, I came across three additional one-dollar bills, so that brings my total to $8. At that point, I realized that I was an obvious target for jokes by the simple fact that they are all one-dollar bills. ("So, Emmmm, slow night last night?")

We will share more about the Brazilian Street Festival in a later post, but in brief, Kimmmm was absolutely right about its affordability. As we wandered along the vendors at the Brazilian Street Festival the following day, it became apparent that you do not need to be Brazilian nor sell anything Brazilian. The only requirement was that it just had to be cheap-- both in price, and in quality. Handmade beads sold for $2, 100% cashmere pashminas for $10, I heart NY tees 4/$10. Unable to decide between all of the cheap crap at my disposal, I settled for a very, very smooth smoothie (it was more like a cup of juice than a smoothie) for $5, which if you're keeping track is 60% of my original funds. Then, I saved the remaining $3 to put toward a cab later on that evening. Also, to ensure I could spend money as frivolously as everybody else, my sugar mama roommate lent me $40 for the weekend.

Somehow, I went to NYC with eight one-dollar bills and returned with $20. So, Rachel Ray, I see your "$40 a day," and I raise you an "$8 NYC weekend." I'm waiting for the TV producers to start contacting me.

BEST Off to A Rocky Start EVER!

As you put away your white clothes for another year, you are probably thinking to yourself, "What is to become of my favorite blog? Best Summer Evah?" Well it turns out dear reader that there is no need for concern, as we are introducing the new and improved blog.... BEST FALL EVER. Of course, the link will stay the same, the blog will stay the same, all that's changing is the season. So for all six of you who read this... stay with us!

Anyway, to celebrate the end of the summer and kickoff the BEST FALL EVER, Emmmm and myself headed up to New York City with some friends to visit Mike and attend the Brazilian Street Festival. The weekend was packed with good times and many wonderful memories were created, which will be blogged about in the coming days.

However, the first bit of the trip was sort of rocky, which sometimes happens when big changes, such as seasons changes occur.

The trip started off a bit rocky with my greyhound bus ride up to New York. For those of you that have never had the experience that is riding a greyhound bus from DC to New York City, I recommend that you choose one of the busiest holiday weekends of the year with hurricane remnants thrown in. You won't be disappointed. I know I wasn't disappointed at all during the seven (it usually takes four) smurfing hours that I sat as the bus inched forward with a maximum speed of 3 miles per hour as the rain poured down. It didn't help matters that I finished my book, my ipod died, and the surrounding passengers did their best to ensure that no one was going to sleep on the bus as we sat on the Jersey Turnpike in the pouring rain. But it's not the worst greyhound ride I've ever had. That one is a blog for another day.

On Saturday, before everyone else arrived, The Texan and I went down to the South Seaport to check out the Bodies exhibit. Even though I am one of the most squeamish people on the face of this planet, I sort of wanted to see the exhibit because it is pretty controversial. I'm going to say this, as someone who has paid the fee and officially seen the exhibit.... you probably don't want to see it. For me personally, the exhibit raised a lot of questions about the ethics behind exactly how these cadavers were obtained and how they were presented. Plus the room with fetuses almost made me throw up. I believe the intent is to show what people are made of and as the title implies, what our bodies look like inside. I'll fill you in.... underneath your skin, you are made of stringy looking things, boney looking things, squishy looking things, and red spidery looking stuff.

After a quick trip through Century 21, we moved uptown. It was off to the MoMA, which was much better than the Bodies exhibit. After wandering around, The Texan decided that he was going to say goodbye to his job and become a professional modern artist, creating arbitrary and deeply moving works of modern art, such as pictures of feet. Fortunately, New York City is a wonderful place to become a modern artist, and I'm expecting him to erupt onto the scene when he gets the pictures of trash that he took on Sunday developed.

There will be blogs about many of the fun and wonderful things that happened over the next few days including:

- Daring the Texan to Lick the Ice Bar to See if his Tongue Would Stick to it
- Sweeney
- The Dance Move that is ARMS WIDE AND SHIMMY
- Distract! Distract!
- The Quest For the Perfect Brasil T-shirt
- Labor Day Weekend in New York City with Eight One Dollar Bills
- The Adventures of Three Gay Men in a Straight Bar
- Dinner at Ali Baba's
- The Brazilian Street Festival
- Breakfast at Carnegie Deli
- Retelling of the Cheesecake Story
- Cucumbers are Fattening
- How to Pick Out the Perfect Wedding Gift
- The Two Performances of the Star Spangled Banner

Having said that ... stay tuned... and HAPPY BEST FALL EVER!!!